The U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Transit Administration (FTA) today announced the award of $5 million to help American Indian and Alaska Native tribal citizens initiate, improve and enhance transit service on tribal lands.
FTA’s Tribal Transit Program, which provides a transportation lifeline to rural tribal citizens by connecting them with employment, education, healthcare and other vital services, will provide grants to 34 tribes for 35 competitively selected transit-related projects in 12 states.
The projects will receive awards from $5 million in fiscal year 2016 annual competitive funds. Combined with $30 million a year in tribal formula funds, funding for Tribal Transit was increased to $35 million annually under the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act, which was signed into law by President Obama on December 4, 2015.
Examples of projects funded by FTA’s FY 2016 competitive Tribal awards include: the White Earth Band of Chippewa Minnesota will receive funding for replacement vehicles with bike racks and two propane conversions for existing vehicles; the Jicarilla Apache Nation of New Mexico will receive funding for a new bus service; and the Muscogee (Creek) Nation of Oklahoma will receive funding for the purchase and installation of 10 solar-lighted bus shelters for its Okmulgee City route.
The Federal Transit Administration reviewed 44 project applications for the Tribal Transit Program, representing more than $8.3 million in funding requests from tribal transit providers across the country.
